A PLETHORA OF PALADINS

Alignment is everything to these seven NPCs
by Christopher Wood
taken from Dragon #106, TSR copywrited

Editor's introduction

This article was received and accepted prior to the publication of the
Unearthed Arcana volume, in which paladins were made a subclass of the
cavalier. Thus, the article presents these variant paladin "subclasses"
as subclasses of the fighter. Of course, these classes may be treated as
separate from true paladins, since the article makes "paladin" a term for
any holy warrior who promotes the causes of his or her alignment.

Anti-paladins were dealt with in the article, "The Anti-Paladin,"
reprinted from DRAGON(r) issue #39 in the Best of DRAGON Magazine, Volume
2. Use of these classes as player characters is not recommended, as they
have not been playtested for balance and tend to duplicate powers from
existing classes.

Through breaks in the dense foliage overhead, Aan could see the moon,
full and imposing, burned deep orange by the falling sun. Night covered
him as he rode through the forest, and he shivered at the realization
that darkness was the element of his enemy.

Aan felt his bold mount beneath him. The warhorse had served him well in
his years of service to the church, hard years of the service that only a
paladin can give. He rode now in that service, toward the stronghold of
Gugazh the shadowed, the chaotic, the anti-paladin. Swords would be
bloodied before the sun rose again. . . .

The struggle is as ancient as life itself. The two vastly diverging
alignments, lawful good and chaotic evil, represent the truest of
convictions. They are the extremes.

But extremes are always facets of a greater whole, and without the
middle, the extremes represent nothing. Paladins and anti-paladins such
as Aan and Gulgazh are the extremes of a spectrum of holy fighters. Until
now, there was no greater whole.

This article offers the concept of the whole. Paladins -- holy fighters
-- can be of any alignment. Players cannot use paladins other than the
lawful good ones, but NPCs may be encountered who are of every other
sort.

Seven new NPC character classes follow: the Myrikhan, the Garath, the
Lyan, the Paramander, the Fantra, the Illrigger, and the Arrikhan. All
are holy fighters of deep alignment convictions and should be played as
such. Alignments, the entire basis of these paladin classes, must be
played to the hilt. Punishment for deviations should be severe.

A distinction must be made here. Like the word "level" in the AD&D(r)
game, "paladin" now takes on more than one meaning. The first denotes the
lawful good human player character as described in the rules; the second
denotes a holy fighter of any alignment (including those characters who
might be called anti-paladins). All paladins (second meaning) are fighter
subclasses and use the attack and saving-throw matrices for fighters.
These paladin types are also exclusively human.

Note: The number in parentheses under "spell ability" shows the level
at which spell ability is gained.

Character Classes Table II: Armor and weapons permitted

Class of

Character

Armor

Shield

Weapons

Oil

Poison

Myrikhan

C

any

any

yes

never

Garath

any

any

any

yes

never

Lyan

any

any

any

yes

never

Paramander

any

any

any

yes

never

Fantra

C

wooden

any

yes

never

Illrigger

any

any

any

yes

yes

Arrikhan

any

any

any

yes

yes

Note: An entry of C under "armor" indicates that the class may use any
armor up to the quality of chainmail, but will use nothing heavier or
bulkier.

Character Classes Table III: Character ability limits

Character

class

STR

INT

WIS

DEX

CON

CHA

Myrikhan

8/18(00)

12/pr

13/pr

9/18

8/18

10/18

Garath

9/18(00)

10/18

12/pr

8/18

8/18

13/pr

Lyan

12/pr

7/16

12/pr

9/16

12/pr

7/16

Paramander

10/18(00)

14/pr

10/16

9/18

8/18

8/18

Fantra

11/18(00)

9/18

13/pr

10/18

11/18

9/18

Illrigger

9/18(00)

13/pr

12/pr

9/18

10/18

7/18

Arrikhan

10/18(00)

9/18

13/pr

9/18

10/18

6/15

Note: Ability minimums are to the left of the slash, and maximums are to
the right. An entry of "pr" indicates that the score is a prime requisite
with a maximum that can be higher than 18.

Character Classes Table IV: Weapon proficiency table

Initial

Non-

Character

number of

proficiency

Added proficiency

class

weapons

penalty

in weapons/level

Myrikhan

2*

-3

1/4 levels

Garath

5

-1

1/2 levels

Lyan

4

-2

1/3 levels

Paramander

2

-3

1/3 levels

Fantra

3

-2

1/3 levels

Illrigger

3

-2

1/2 levels

Arrikhan

2

-3

1/2 levels

* -- One of the myrikhan's initial weapons is a "favorite weapon" (see
the text for details).

Character Classes Table V: Attacks per melee round table

Character

class

1/1

3/2

2/1

5/2

3/1

Myrikhan

1-6

7-12

13+

--

--

Garath

1-6

7-12

13+

--

--

Lyan

1-7

8-14

13+

--

--

Paramander

1-5

6-10

11-15

16-20

21+

Fantra

1-7

8-14

15-21

22+

--

Illrigger

1-6

7-12

13+

--

--

Arrikhan

1-7

8-14

15+

--

--

. . . The forest thinned and became a sea of thorns. Beyond it, Aan
saw the ominous towers of Castle Gulgazh, the last rays of the sun
cleeding red around their edges.

Aan reined his horse up and stared silently at the sight before him. The
drawbridge lay open. Hanging from chains in the entryway, the body of
Gulgazh swayed in the evening breeze, his unhelmed head matted with
blood. Deep knife gouges in the dark breastplate sent chills through Aan
-- Gulgazh bore the crossed-gauntlet sigil of the paremandyr, Fein. With
Gulgazh dead, on whom would Fein next prey?

Aan knew all too well. His right hand strayed to his sword hilt as he
eyed the forest warily. Slowly he turned his mount around and forged back
the way he came. The sun vanished soon after. Only the moon, massive and
orange, remained...

1st Edition Paladins

2nd Edition Paladins

Note: Any information in the revised 2nd
edition version of the Paladins that conflict with the rules on this
page override the rules on this page. All Paladins increase in number
of attacks as a warrior of equal level. None of the new Paladins have
any ability score maximums that make them unable to become that type
of Paladin.